Moonlit Somber
by Winter's Holly
Summary: One-shot. SasuSaku. One rainy night, Sasuke saw her again after a long torturous month away from her. "Is it sad that I still love you?" Please review! Thanks!


Hello dear friends! I thought I'd write a little one-shot. I know, random right? But not really! It has a bit of spoilers for one for the manga chapters and for my fic "Remember You, Always." But it's nothing big really. Anyways, just enjoy this until I can get the seventh chapter of "Kakurenbo" up.

Disclaimer: Yea, no own.

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_Moonlit Somber_

_By: Winter's Holly_

"_The world is so full of care and sorrow that it is a gracious debt we owe to one another to discover the bright crystals of delight hidden in __somber__ circumstances and irksome tasks__"-Helen Keller _

_Konohagakure no Sato…_

_23__rd__ of July…11: 30 P.M. …_

The night was very cloudy as the wind shook an estate of the Uchiha district. The news had reported that there was going to be a sever thunderstorm that night and that all villagers should stay inside. A power outage was a possibility depending how long the storm will linger in the village. As the clouds grew larger and more ominous, Uchiha Sasuke tossed and turned in his bed sheets as the nightmare continued to torture him. After a few moments, the young man finally woke up with a start when thunder sounded loudly. Bolting up in a sitting position, his hands gripped the comforter tightly as a light sheen of perspiration layered on his pale skin. Shakily, his obsidian eyes wandered over to the balcony to see the trees in his yard creaking in protest against the harsh winds. And then slowly, rain was heard smashing against the earth. Taking a deep breath, the young Uchiha slid off his bed, making his way to his brown dresser to pull out a pair of loose jeans and then to his closet to get his black haori with the Uchiha crest on the right shoulder of the sleeve. Running downstairs, Sasuke grabbed his umbrella before leaving and locking the door.

The rain was only a drizzle, but Sasuke was sure that it would be worse later. Opening up the umbrella, he jumped down the couple of steps of the porch, and quickly making his way out of the district. From there, all he did was aimless wandering and wondering. No one would dare tread in this storm unless they're out of their mind like Sasuke was. As he passed Hokage Tower, his eyes noticed that the lights there were still on. _'The woman's probably slacking off again,' _Sasuke thought, knowing from the information that Sakura told him that the Godaime tends to be lazy. Speaking of which, he was a little disappointed that she wasn't here for his birthday despite her being gone for the last month. He had hoped that she would still come back to visit him at least.

Three years ago when he had returned, the war had ended. Itachi and Orochimaru and the Akatsuki were gone forever. He woke up in the hospital with Shizune checking up on his status. The war had worn on everyone and she looked tired from healing so many patients. Then out of nowhere, Naruto comes bursting in, dragging his IV with his good arm since the right was broken.

"Teme! You're alive!" Naruto shouted jovially with that stupid grin of his.

Sasuke only rolled his eyes and muttered, "That's quite obvious, Dobe."

Fortunately, the blonde didn't notice and from the corner of his eyes, Sasuke saw the pink-haired girl sitting in a wheelchair. She looked worse off than anyone he had seen. Her left eye was covered by a padded gauze; her entire upper behalf was bandage all the way to her left shoulder; on her cheek as another gauze; where as both her arms were concealed in the white material as well as her legs. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. _'She must have been tortured,'_ he assumed, yet her eye still had that shine despite what the war had done to her. When she wheeled herself closer to the bed, everyone hushed, watching quietly for his reaction. She gave him a kind smile as her bandaged hand reached forward to move a lock of his hair out of his face. The knee-jerk reflex to slap her hand was strong, but he kept still with a set jaw. Yet as she ran her fingers through his hair, Sasuke felt somewhat at ease. He watched her blinked as her smile becomes even softer than it already was.

Sakura looked directly at him and said in her warm voice, "Welcome home, Sasuke-kun."

He blinked once, twice, thrice. All of the things he expected her to do this was not one of them. He had expected her to cry uncontrollably and hug until he can't feel his bones. He even expected her to come to hate me for leaving in the first place. But…she just said 'welcome home' like he was only gone for a day. A small twitch was seen on his lips as he inwardly chuckled at her. _'Still annoying as ever…'_

Sasuke closed his eyes and replied in an equally soft tone, "I'm home."

After that, he and the young woman had been close as he is close to Naruto. That is until last month, she just suddenly disappeared. He had asked the Godaime where Sakura was at, but the woman refused to tell him. But the month before that, Sakura had become so distant and not just with him. She was distant with everyone. Whenever one of them would try to talk to her, she would space out completely and constantly stare at the sky. Other times when she did talk, Sakura would start off normal, then going nervous before finishing off with sudden bursts of tears and run off. So when he stopped by her home, again he saw that they were no lights on. His dark brows furrowed. The girl had grown on him greatly that if she wasn't near him, he would constantly worry if she was alright. So when she disappeared last month, Sasuke became stressed more and more each day.

Tearing his eyes away from the lonely house, he continued his way through the now heavy rain with the water sloshing each time he took a step. As he passed by the ninja academy, Sasuke suddenly had the image of when he and his best friend kissed. He gagged. _'God…now I won't be able to get the stupid image out of my head every time I pass this place!' _He shuddered and decided to move on ahead. As he was making his way to the bench by the gate which now held more than just painful memories, from the corner of his eye Sasuke realized that he was going to pass the cemetery and noticed a figure standing there. He narrowed his eyes curious and moved his legs to the entrance of the forlorn place. The closer he got, the more he recognized the figure. When he was close enough, Sasuke stopped in place with wide eyes. _'Sakura…?' _Sasuke thought once again commanding his legs to move closer to her. His view of her was from the right so he saw the same expression she had when she was looking lost. Her gaze was pointed to the grave in front of her. Following her gaze, Sasuke read the name on the tombstone: _'Haruno Kasumi? Her mother?'_

"Sakura?" he called out to her with a hint of concern.

Slowly, she lifted her pink head and turned too slow to look at him with wide and confused eyes. Her hands were lifted a little as she turned to face him. "Sasuke-kun?"

A frown marred his handsome face while he walked over to her, trying to take off his haori at the same time. Once the jacket was set on her shoulders, Sasuke was able to hold the umbrella more steadily over them. He stared down at those glowing green eyes and sighed.

"What are you doing out here in the rain, Sakura?" he immediately questioned. "Do you want to get sick?"

That lost look was officially glued to her face, he concluded, noticing the slight twitch of her eyebrow. "I…I was going to stop by…to say 'happy birthday', but then realized that it was too late," she explained in a tiny voice. He was lucky to even hear since it was raining so hard. "So then I thought I'd come back later…and I found myself here, looking at Kaasan's grave." Her head bowed ashamed when she was done. "Ah, are you nineteen now, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke looked at her for a moment before sighing and nodded. "Yes, I am. Now why don't we get out of this rain? I don't want you to get a cold," he said stoically, taking her hand in his.

"Oh! I forgot to get you a present, Sasuke-kun!" the young woman suddenly yelled and was about to take off, but Sasuke kept his grip on her.

"The stores are closed, Sakura, and you don't need to get me anything," he told her, a little annoyed.

She frowned. "Demo—"

"It's alright, Sakura," Sasuke repeated himself until he felt her stop and turned around. She was in the rain again with her green eyes giving him sad and worried look. Wow…how many times was he going to sigh tonight? The Uchiha walked up to the shorter girl so that she was under the umbrella again and put his hand on her cheek. "You're here right now and that makes me happy."

"Hontou ni?" she asked quietly.

As a reply, he kissed her forehead before taking her hand again and dragging her back to his estate. In no time, they were in front of his door with him unlocking it. He pushed her in, following after her as he shut the door and switched on the lights. Wordlessly, he left her standing there as he disappeared into the hallways. The haori he gave her was now soaked and did no good to protect her from the cold. From the other side, she heard her friend swear and tilted her head in curiosity. Sasuke came back in less than a few seconds with an annoyed expression on his face. The young man marched over and grabbed her arm to pull her with him up the stairs to his room.

"I still have some of your clothes the last time you stayed here during a storm," he mentioned, taking the articles of clothing from his top drawer. "Here, you know where the bathroom is."

Sakura stood slowly from sitting on the couch in his room, but shakily took her clothes. She looked uncertain on how to put on proper clothes as she gazed at them. "T-t-they're not b-big enough," she whispered, looking down.

"You want to borrow my clothes?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

Her shoulders flinched a bit. "C-can I?"

Sighing, he nodded and went back to digging through his dresser and pulled out a pair of dark gray sweatpants and one of his black tees. However, when he turned away, Sasuke saw that she had dropped the clothes and was crying with blank eyes. Blinking, he quickly went over to her side and took her by the shoulders. "What's wrong?"

That blank look returned. She said nothing and just let the tears continue down her cheeks.

As a best friend, though he wished to be more, he set her on his bed kneeling before her as he did so. "Sakura, tell me what happened. How did your mother die?" Sasuke asked softly, hoping she was listening.

The young woman only tilted her head down to him.

Getting irritated with her attitude, Sasuke had to close his eyes and clenched his fists to keep from lecturing her like he usually did. Opening his eyes to see her drenched form again, Sasuke stood up and went to the bathroom adjacent from his room to get a towel. When he returned, Sasuke began drying her thoroughly.

Once he was done, he kneeled in front of her again, arms on either side of her. "Do you want me to change you?" he asked sincerely, knowing that she didn't have the strength to do anything at the moment.

In response (especially when he asked her something that she too shy to answer yes to), Sakura leaned her head onto his shoulder and gripped his shirt.

Recognizing her way of answering, Sasuke pushed her back gently and grabbed the hem of her shirt. As he pulled it up, his face remained calm and blank when her pale flesh was exposed to him. After peeling it off her arms, Sasuke stared at the now half naked girl in front of him with narrowed eyes. There weren't any scars that marred the front, but he was sure there were some on her back.

"Are you going to tell me yet?" he asked again and she shook her head. Sasuke groaned, putting his head on her knees. "You're going to have to tell me some time, Sakura."

Sakura sighed heavily above him before leaning down to put her cheek on his head and wrapping her arms around him. "I know, Sasuke-kun," she murmured, closing her eyes.

There were often times when he was around Sakura he was utterly confused as to what their relationship was. They had used the excuse that they were best friends in front of others, yet behind closed doors there was something more. Something more forbidden and passionate that goes against the rules of what best friends should do. But they weren't even lovers yet, were they? Sasuke frowned a little. If one saw the real thing, perhaps one can call it that. However, the two of them are still very timid when it came down to each other's feelings. What would one call a relationship that was balancing between best friends and lovers? Even during her own sixteenth birthday when she requested from him that he'd be her first; when they would make up an excuse to go behind the trees or alleyway to make-out; when she would just show up at his home unannounced throwing herself on him which would lead them to his bedroom, they somehow maintained 'we're just best friends' act. But now, Sasuke can see it—feel it that they both wanted something more that goes beyond that of friendship.

Sasuke lifted his head a little so that he could press his lips on her stomach. Her body gave a small shiver as she held him tighter in her arms. Like the many times before, Sasuke pushed her legs apart so that he could bring himself closer to her as he embraced her, leaving trails of kisses from her stomach between her breasts to her neck and jaw until his lips were at the corner of hers. He paused to look into her deep green eyes. They were filled with longing, yet beyond that he could see her hesitance as if she wanted to tell him something. He couldn't continue. Not yet. She was going to have to tell him before he does anything more. So since he was leaning on her, Sasuke unhooked her bra, sliding them off her arms. Quickly, he grabbed his black shirt and pulled it over her head.

"Tell me…what are we, Sakura?" Sasuke questioned with indifference as he pulled off her pants to reveal the same smooth legs that he remembered were wrapped around him when they were in this very room two months ago. Setting her soaked pants aside, he slid his hands underneath the shirt to pull her panties down. He felt like he was helping a child dress and undress as she just watches. He soon replaced it with a dry and clean pair before putting the sweats on her. Once done, the young man stood up to put her clothes with his laundry in the bathroom. Now he stood in the doorway, gazing at the girl who just sat there quietly. After a while, Sasuke thought of a way for her to tell him and inwardly smirked. Moving to her side, he grabbed her waist shifting her so that she was lying in the middle of his bed as he hovered above her.

Lowering his head to her neck, his lips brushed against her skin. "You know how you asked me what I want for my birthday?" Sasuke asked while she nodded. "I'm not going to let you go until you tell me why you were gone for a month."

"D-demo…that's not fair," Sakura said with wide eyes.

"It's my birthday, Sakura," he reminded her.

"Fine, but can I sit up then?" the young woman asked. The man above her shook his head. She narrowed her eyes and pouted.

This made Sasuke chuckle. "I miss that face," he whispered lovingly, placing a kiss on her lips. It started off as chaste until that painful yearn of her beside him again deepened that innocent kiss. For every brief second that he pulled apart from her, he had whispered her name with more emotion than he had ever shown. His lips could feel it in their kiss that she had also missed him as painfully as he had missed her. They finally pulled apart and the Uchiha quickly embraced the girl, burying his face in her blossom locks. "Don't leave me," Sasuke murmured, afraid that he might lose his voice if he tried to talk any louder as he crushed her to his chest.

"W-When I left…" the small girl beneath him started as his eyes widen and he pulled away, supporting himself on his right elbow. "…at first it was because of Kaasan's death, but the more I pondered on it"—she hid her face in his chest—"I realized that I was afraid."

Sasuke took her face into his hands only to see tears glistening down her cheeks again. "Shh…what were you afraid of?"

Sakura wanted to hit herself so hard right now. How could she be so scared when he had changed so much? It seemed he had reverted to that kind child she had heard of before his clan was killed. She averted her gaze.

"W-what was your reaction…when Itachi told you the truth?" Sakura asked instead which shocked Sasuke since it was such a sensitive subject.

The young man frowned deeply at this and pulled away to a sitting position. He gave her a long and intense frown before leaning his back against the headboard with his right leg propped up to place his elbow on. His gaze was directed at the ceiling. "When Madara told me…I was in disbelief. Who wouldn't? He told me that Itachi killed the clan to save the village and that he just couldn't kill his baby brother." The raven-haired young man scoffed as a bitter smile graced his features. Sakura took his hand in hers. "But then I remember through my hatred that what Madara was true. Itachi really still cared for me and that everything he did was to protect me. That was when I decided it was the village's fault—it was their fault that my life turned out this way—that Itachi's had been a living hell. I wanted to destroy the Leaf for destroying my future." Unconsciously, the girl beside him squeezed his hand, making him look at her. "Sakura?"

She closed her eyes as if to keep her agony in place. "Before…Itachi died, my last encounter with him, he asked me to do something for him," Sakura stated. Sasuke's eyes widen as he sat up straight. "Before he went to fight you, he asked me to do something so simple, yet we both knew how difficult that simple thing would be once he died."

"What was it? What did my brother tell you?" Sasuke demanded as he shook the girl out from her daze.

She sniffed a bit, angrily wiping her tears. "H-he told m-me not t-to l-let you b-be a-a-alone!" she managed angrily as she tried to hold down the tears. "Ungh! B-but I was s-so s-s-scared! I-I didn't k-know what to d-do! Ungh!" the blossom-haired girl cried in painful honesty that Sasuke couldn't help, but hold her to comfort her. "I m-miss you, S-Sasuke-kun! I-I'm s-sorry for l-leaving you a-alone! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Sasuke could only rock them back and forth as he whispered soothing words to her while she continued to apologize. "Sakura—"

But he was cut off when she abruptly kissed him. Her lips trembled and tasted slightly like salt due to the tears. "Is it sad that I still love you?" Sakura murmured and placed a finger on his lips when he was about to speak. "Because Sasuke-kun…I want to be something more…than just best friends. D-don't leave me. I love you too much."

Automatically, Sasuke reached for the lamp switch until her small hand stopped him. "Sakura? We always turn off the lights," Sasuke said with a confused expression.

She smiled to him and moved to straddle him. Silently, she took off his shirt so that only her naked chest was shown. "I…I want to see…I…" she shyly looked away and took his hand to the space between her breast where her heart was beating evenly. "And I want _you_ to see…that I'll always be yours."

A small and kind smile made its way to his lips as he pulled her in for a kiss, his arms wrapping around her tiny frame. "And I you," he whispered against her lips as he flipped their position so that he was hovering above her once more. "I won't leave you…" With that, he seal that promise with a kiss…

_The next day…_

The sun risen over the horizon as last night's storm had finally passed this morning. Everything shined due to the glimmering raindrops. In the Uchiha estate in his room, Sasuke had woken with the sun and stared at the woman in his arms. She was much thinner than she was the last time he saw her. Still, all the same, she was beautiful. She was his blossom. A smile lingered on his lips while he pulled her tightly against his chest.

"Hmm…Sasuke-kun?" she croaked, snuggling closer to him for warmth. "Are you okay?"

Sasuke only kissed her forehead in response. "Everything's just fine."

That was until…

"Teme! You're late!" Naruto had burst in uninvited like he usually did only to squeal when he saw the missing pink haired girl. "Sakura-chan!" he screamed and jumped on the bed, disregarding that fact that both his best friends were in the same bed nude. "Where've you been?! No, scratch that! The good news is that you're back and with Sasuke!" It was then that he stopped and looked at them and cringed. "I am going to go wash my hands now."

When Naruto left quietly, Sakura couldn't help but suddenly laugh at the odd morning greeting. At the same time, their sensei was at the door way with the book in his hands. He blinked at the two, staring at them for a moment.

"Well, since you back Sakura, you owe me a lot of training," Kakashi said as if he didn't notice anything. He's taking it quite well unlike the blonde. Then he tossed something to the dark haired boy. "And this is a late birthday present. As for Naruto's present, I'm sure you that he'll give you a free meal to Ichiraku. Now get dressed two you." Then Kakashi left with a snicker.

"I really love how those two are not surprise to see that I'm back," Sakura muttered, while taking Sasuke's shirt to wear. That is until he stopped her from doing as he placed a kiss on her shoulder.

"Since they weren't surprise about us being in the same bed, maybe we should stay in bed a little longer," he whispered and smirked a little. "Besides, you still owe me a birthday present."

The girl gasped and twisted in his arms. "But what about—"

"I was only trying to get you to talk," he mumbled, already occupied with her neck.

"T-then N-Naruto?" Sakura stuttered as Sasuke lowered her back down.

He grunted in response. "He'll figure it out when he hears us."

Feeling that she was going to protest again, Sasuke shut her up with a kiss and smirked when she gave in with a moan.

_Five minutes later…_

"OH MY GOD! MY EARS!" The blonde dashed out of the house as groans and moans echoed from upstairs.

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Yeah, that's it. For Sakura's leaving for a month, she was just really confused about hers and Sasuke's relationship and asked Tsunade to let her blow off some steam just in case you guys were confused. I was going to have a lemon in here, but got lazy when it came to it. Also, I love that last line. I'd cry if I was Naruto hearing my best friends doing it. Wait, in fact, I have and I did cry. Seriously, no respect anymore!

Alright, review or whatever, I don't care.

Sincerely,

Holly


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